Jordan Spieth flirts with Masters course record, leads by 3

It’s starting to look like Jordan Spieth’s runner-up finish at last year’s Masters was just a prelude of accomplishments to come. Accomplishments as big as his native Texas.

The precocious 21-year-old threatened the Augusta National course record for a time Thursday before finishing with nine birdies for an 8-under 64 that gave him a three-shot lead through the first round of the 79th Masters tournament.

While Spieth, who came into this week off a first and second in his last two events, remained the hottest player in the game, Tiger Woods’ much-ballyhooed reclamation project produced only middling results. As inconsistent as ever off the tee, Woods posted four bogeys against three birdies to finish nine shots back after a 73.

Starting late in the day after Justin Rose and Charley Hoffman had posted 5-under 67s to share the early lead, Spieth caught both with five birdies in his first 10 holes, then ran off three more from Nos. 12-14 to get to 8-under.

History was within his grasp: The course record at Augusta was 9-under 63, shared by Nick Price (1986) and Greg Norman (1996), and no one had ever shot a 62 in major championship history.

Recommended for you

Most read

“I wasn’t aware what the course record was here, let alone it would have been the lowest round in major championship history,” Spieth said. “But I’m certainly OK with the day.”

His only mistake came at No. 15, a reachable par-5 where he chose to hit a hybrid on his second shot instead of a 4-iron. The ball carried well over the green, and with a low-hanging branch in his path, his pitch came up short, after which he three-putted from 50 feet for bogey.

“(I) just got in between clubs and needed to hit a good, flush 4-iron,” he said. “But I didn’t want to gamble. I wanted to try and hit it just over the green and pitch it back. Just got it too far over.”

Spieth’s play was all but unassailable otherwise. At what playing partner Billy Horschel had told him during one exchange, he related, “I need a tape recorder that just plays, ‘Nice hole, Jordan,’ on each tee box.”

Spieth’s performance came as no surprise to his fellow PGA Tour pros, many of whom saw him win two weeks ago in San Antonio and lose in a playoff last week in Houston while ascending to his No. 4 world ranking.

“What a player,” Jupiter’s Ernie Els said. “You just cannot see this kid not win many, many majors. He is by far the most balanced kid I’ve seen.

“Jordan has got that little tenacity to him and he’s really got a fighting spirit, and he’s the nicest kid in the world. So I just love playing with him.”

While Spieth was breezing around Augusta National like it was his backyard par-3, Woods was traversing vast areas of real estate chasing errant drives as he tried to patch together a solid round coming off a 10-week layoff. He insisted he played well enough to shoot 3-under but that slow greens did him in.

“You know, I’m still in it,” he added. “I’m only nine back and we have a long way to go. And we don’t know what the Masters is going to do with the greens or the golf course. You know how they like to change things.”

World No. 1 Rory McIlroy was looking for a change from his recent inconsistencies but didn’t find it, finishing seven back after a 1-under 71 as he began the quest to complete his career grand slam.

“It’s good to get into red numbers after day one and with the way I’m driving the ball, if I can just be a little more patient with my iron play and give myself more opportunities, I’ll be right there at the end of the week,” McIlroy said.

McIlroy, however, already has 17 players between him and Spieth. That number includes Day, who ran off five back-nine birdies at one point and joined Els, Hoffman and Rose at 5-under. Russell Henley and Sergio Garcia were at 4-under, and Bill Haas, Paul Casey, Webb Simpson and Ryan Palmer at 3-under.

Despite the perfect scoring conditions, others who had hoped to contend got off on the wrong foot. That group included world No. 2 Henrik Stenson and Rickie Fowler, who joined Woods at 1-over; Wellington native Brooks Koepka, whose triple-bogey at No. 11 led to a 2-over finish, and Martin Kaymer and J.B. Holmes, both at 4-over.

Ben Crenshaw, playing his 44th and final Masters, had a quadruple-bogey 8 on No. 11, struggled to a 91 and surely will be going home Friday.

Spieth, meanwhile, is taking nothing for granted — not after holding a three-shot lead with 11 holes to play and winding up three back of winner Bubba Watson a year ago.

“It’s round one,” he said. “I need to play some really, really good golf, and I need to hit my driver and I need to hit my irons better than I did (Thursday) to have a chance to win this week.”